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"SHE JUST SEEMS A LITTLE OUT OF IT TODAY." Anne whispered to Bash and Gilbert from in the hallway of the Blythe residence. Wilma sat in the kitchen with Delphine in her arms pretending she couldn't hear nearly every word Anne had been speaking. Wilma sat there with an undeniable fact running through her mind. There was a memory missing. Several in fact. She didn't remember falling asleep, in fact she didn't remember waking up this morning at all. She figured originally that she had just woken out of her sleep just a bit and came back shortly after, only a whole day passed here in Avonlea which meant a day passed back home as well. But behind all the theories there was a feeling a bad one like something horrible had happened.
"There's my girl." Gilbert smiled as he approached her and Delphine. He had just woken up from the looks of it, his eyes still droopy with sleep.
"Yes please take her, she's so lovely but my arms are falling asleep." Wilma smiled back at him.
"I wasn't talking about Delphine." He kissed Wilma once on the forehead and took the baby from her arms to hand off over to Bash.
"You had Anne pretty shaken up this morning, which admittedly isn't hard to do but no less concerning." Gilbert took a seat next to her and grabbed her hand.
"I have some misplaced memories is all." Wilma assured him with a soft smile but the motion didn't put him at ease.
"Like what?" He asked.
"Like from home, I don't remember the past day and I have this gut feeling as if something terrible happened." Normally Wilma would've bitten her tongue before saying anything that sounded as crazy as this. Only now more that ever she knew time lost dancing around the point was no longer something she couldn't afford. She couldn't afford any lost time at all. That's why the lost memories shook her so badly.
Gilbert didn't really know how to respond. He would've thought he had become an expert in all things Wilhelmina by now but even she could throw new situations at him. He looked behind him for some help from Bash only to find he was off doing baby duties. He would have to handle this on his own.
"I can understand that not remembering an entire day would be worrisome for you, but you will wake up tomorrow and you can just ask your mom or William about anything you don't remember, right?" He thought aloud.
Of course she would wake up tomorrow and of course she could have the day filled in by her mum. By William. William. She remembered an arm in front of her chest and quickly forced her eyes shut. What happened to William? What happened to her? She heard tires squealing against the pavement and she squeezed Gilbert's hand hard. The memory was right there, if it was a memory at all. But Wilma did not want it. She didn't want to remember, and she pushed any recollection down deep inside of her.
Wilma opened her eyes and eased up on Gilbert's hand. She met his worried and slightly pained expression and exchanged it with a calm reassuring look of her own. "You're right, I'll ask them tomorrow." She said carefully avoiding Williams name this time. Tomorrow she would remember. Tomorrow. A strange feeling washed over her. One she had never felt while in Avonlea. She was tired. Gilbert was too, she could tell. Behind his worried expression his eyes were still droopy, assumingely from staying awake with Delphine last night.
"I think I'd like to take a nap." Wilma spoke softly and Gilbert looked up at her so fast you would think she had said she wanted to set the house on fire.
"You-you're tired?" Gilbert asked with a furrowed brow. Wilma only nodded in response. He sat there for a moment thinking the same thing Wilma had. She was never tired while in Avonlea. She's never even slept here once, it's impossible to sleep while you are sleeping. He opened his mouth to ask more questions but when he looked at her he could see it. She really was tired, and so was he so he didn't question her further. Instead he took her hand and led her up the stairs into his room and tucked them both into bed, starting with her.
Anne was right, she really was out of it today, and Gilbert was so worried that meant she would be leaving again soon, and perhaps this time she would never come back. He wanted to express his worry to her but he could tell she was thinking something similar by the look on her face. "You know how much I love you?" He asked instead.
Wilma smiled sleepily and whispered "How much?"
"This much." He kissed her on her forehead. "And this much" He kissed her left cheek. "And this much." He kissed the right. "And this—" He kissed her nose. "—much." He kissed her lips softly.
Wilma kept her eyes shut but still managed to keep that same sleepy smile on her face. "I love you more." She told him, but Gilbert knew there was no possible way anyone could love another person as much as he had loved her, but he let her win this round anyway, and they both fell asleep.
***
Wilmas eyes shot open. She panicked a bit when she realized she was in a place she didn't recognize. It didn't help that it was almost completely dark in there and there was no light to be seen anywhere around. She stood up groggily and felt around the walls for a light switch. Instead her hands found a doorknob. The door creaked open and Wilma stuck her head outside. It was dark in the hallway too. Only at the bottom of what she soon identified as stairs he saw a small glimmer of light and heard soft whispers.
Her heart was beating outside of her chest now. As she tried to be quiet while she snuck down the stairs she was sure whoever was down there could hear how fast her heart had been pounding. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there, and she still didn't remember the lost day from before. Her thoughts clouded her brain and he actions as her foot missed a step and her body went tumbling down the last three steps. She landed on her ass when she hit the floor and groaned slightly as she tried to get up. Footsteps were approaching her now and instead of running she sat there frozen in place.
"Wilma?" Gilbert spoke when he came into her line of view with Bash at his side. "You're still here? I thought you would have went home in your sleep after I woke up. It's 9pm now." He told her.
His words sink deep into the pit of her chest and she thought about what this could possibly mean. For the first time since she had traveled here,
Wilma had stayed the entire day.
a/n: sorry for any misspells I wrote this yesterday when I was half asleep and I'm too tired to change it. Tomorrow is the official end and the day after you guys will get an epilogue! So technically two chapters left!
